Who we are

Gowing Law Solicitors is a trading name of Coupland Cavendish Ltd.

We take the privacy and confidentiality of our clients, potential clients, ex-clients and their affiliates very seriously and we are committed to protecting it.

This Privacy Policy explains the type of information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we might share it with and how to correct or modify it.

We may use your personal information:

to perform a contract, such as engaging with an individual to provide legal or other services;
for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or proceedings;
to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
for legitimate business purposes; or
if you have provided your consent (where necessary) to such use or the organisation that you work for has obtained your consent (where necessary).

How we collect your personal information

We collect and process your personal information in order to facilitate the provision of the professional service(s) for which you have or may instruct us. The personal information you supply to us in connection with your claim may include: your name, address, contact details, date of birth, details of the circumstances of the claim or incident and any damage, injury or loss suffered by you, National Insurance number, employment and GP details including records held by your employer and GP.

Most of this information will have been provided by you, however there may be instances where it comes from other sources or third parties. For example, we may receive it from a medical report from a GP in the course of assisting with a personal injury claim.

Your personal data will be held in electronic and/or manual format.

Why we collect your personal information

We will use your personal information for the following purposes:

the provision of legal advice;
the administration and management of your claim including conflict checking and billing;
the legitimate business purposes associated with the operating of a law firm, such as client satisfaction surveys and auditing;
to provide services ancillary to your claim, for example, car replacement hire, the recovery of the car hire costs, medical assistance and reports, insurance products; and/or
to comply with any laws or regulations.

Sharing your personal information outside of Gowing Law Solicitors

We may need to communicate your personal information to other individuals or organisations. For example:

medical experts for the purpose of obtaining medical reports or acting as expert witnesses;
medical agencies to pass on the said information to said experts in 1 above.
Rehabilitation providers.
car rental companies for the purpose of obtaining a replacement car;
insurance underwriters for the purpose of assessing and validating your claim or to enable them to provide cover under an insurance policy such as legal expenses insurers;
insurance companies/brokers/third party introducers who referred your claim to us for the purpose of complying with our contractual obligations regarding details of the claim we process;
credit hire companies you may have contracted with and for whom you are obliged to recover the credit hire charges;
any employer who has paid sick pay which is to be recovered as part of your personal injury claim; and/or
Cost Companies to recover costs at the conclusion of the claim.
Investigators to assist in preparing statements or reports.
Sponsors to assist with your Visa Application
The Home Office or Tribunal
Interpreters and / or Translators to assist with language issues

In dealing with your claim, we may also transfer your information to third parties providing us with support and administrative services for the more efficient processing of your claim and/or the legitimate business purposes associated with the operating of a law firm. Your details will be processed in each case in strict confidence and we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that any third party has sound security measures.

If after providing us with your personal information it becomes apparent we are unable to offer our service to you, we may, once we have your consent, pass your details to another company in order that they may attempt to secure legal representation for you.

We will not sell your information to a third party, except in the unlikely event that we sell our business, or a part of it; in which case we may sell your information as part of the sale to allow the purchaser to carry on providing some or all of our services to you.

Accessing and updating your personal information

You have a number of legal rights over the personal information held by us. These include the right:

to access your personal information held in our records, whether electronically or manually;
to correct or update any personal information that you think is incorrect;
to object to further processing, including stop receiving marketing material from us which you previously signed up for, by updating your marketing preferences;
to ask us to delete your personal information,. We will only be able to accommodate this request where it is no longer necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was provided or where we no longer have a lawful basis to process it your personal information;
to receive the personal information we hold about you in a portable format, however this need only be provided in limited circumstances where the processing has been done by automated means; and
to ask us to stop processing your personal information in certain circumstances. Asking us to stop doing this may mean we are no longer able to provide you with legal services and impact your client retainer.

You should contact us should you wish to have access to this information or to update or complete any of our records pertaining to your personal information. Requests can be made to:

Gowing Law Solicitors

14^th Floor, St James Tower

7 Charlotte Street

Manchester

M1 4DZ

e-mail: Compliance@gowinglaw.co.uk

For more information about this policy, or if you would like to make a complaint in relation to the way we process your personal information, please contact compliance@gowinglaw.co.uk. We will endeavour to resolve any complaints, however if we are unable to do so to your satisfaction, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the website is www.ico.org.uk or their telephone helpline 0303 123 1113.

How long we keep your personal information

We will retain your personal information for as long as it is reasonable and necessary for the use for which we have collected it in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We may also use your personal details to provide you with information about legal development, news or events if you have subscribed to our newsletters, or to ask you to participate in a client satisfaction survey.

Transferring personal information overseas

Most of the personal information we hold on you will be used and stored in the UK. However, there may be instances where some or all of your personal information is transferred overseas as some or our operations and third party providers are located outside of the UK. Where this occurs, we have taken steps to ensure that data is held securely.

Security

We will keep your personal information confidential and will take appropriate measures to protect it against loss, theft or misuse and to safeguard your privacy.

Where you are provided with any confidential information (including a user ID or password), you must not disclose such information to any third party.

Updating this Policy

We may amend this policy at any time by either notifying you or posting a revised version on our website

If we make a change to this policy, we will take your continued use of our services after that date as your acceptance of the change, so if an amendment is not acceptable to you then you should stop using our services.

Privacy Policy

About Gowing Law

Get in Touch